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By Melanie Ly
Washington D.C.- On June 4th, 2013, there was a peaceful demonstration in Washington D.C. by the Khmer Krom people from all different parts of the United States. The news of this was only mentioned just a week before the actual event but due to the quick works by social media, word got out like rapid fire. As we walked off the bus and into the crowd, our brothers and sisters greeted us with warm welcomes and encouraging smiles.

06 June 2013
WASHINGTON DC - A Congressional subcommittee held a second hearing on human rights in Vietnam on Tuesday, which included testimony from a Khmer minority representative.

The Khmer Kampuchea Krom are ethnically Khmer people living in southern Vietnam, which once belonged to Cambodia. The Khmer Krom people say they continue to suffer rights abuses under the Vietnamese government.

Tran Mannrinh, a Khmer Krom minority, said the invitation to speak before the US House Subcommittee on Africa, Global Health, Global Human Rights, and International Organizations, demonstrated that they had not been forgotten.

A Congressional subcommittee held a second hearing on human rights in Vietnam on Tuesday, which included testimony from a Khmer minority representative.

Nearly 1,000 ethnic Khmer Krom living in Cambodia on Tuesday marked the 64th anniversary of the loss of their territory to Hanoi amid calls to protect the rights of the remaining members of the group in Vietnam.

Two ethnic Khmer monks have escaped into hiding after an attempt by Vietnamese government and religious authorities to strip them of their religious status following accusations of anti-state activity, sources said on Friday.

Thach Thuol and Lieu Ny—both of the Ta Set pagoda in the Vinh Chau district of Soc Trang province—evaded arrest on Thursday when hundreds of local Buddhists blocked police efforts to detain them, the two men told RFA’s Vietnamese Service.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Obama administration expressed concern Thursday about Vietnam's "backsliding" on human rights and asserted that advancing individual freedoms is key to U.S. policy in Asia.

One example cited is Hanoi's treatment of bloggers who have faced prosecution under national security laws. Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Dan Baer told a congressional panel that Vietnam's authoritarian government is rightly proud of expanding Internet use, but it has diminished the value by curbing free exchange of ideas. Baer described those national security laws as draconian.

U.S. senators urged the administration to emphasize the promotion of human rights and democracy as part of its strategic pivot to Asia, which has primarily been cast as an attempt to increase America's military presence and boost trade in response to China's rise.

Campaigners urged the UN Human Rights Council Friday to take Vietnam to task over its jailing of dozens of cyber-dissidents, claiming Hanoi was in breach of international law.

“We call upon the Council to press Vietnam to put an end to this repression,” said Vo Van Ai, speaking on behalf of Vietnamese campaigners and the International Federation of Human Rights.

In a speech to the UN body — which is halfway through a monthlong session addressing a raft of global rights concerns — he said a total of 32 bloggers and other cyber-dissidents were behind bars in Vietnam, either sentenced or awaiting trial.

With half of their land now swallowed up by the ocean, some poor families are trying their best to survive against the continuing seawater intrusion in Viet Nam’s Mekong Delta, but their struggle is far from over.

KIEN GIANG, The Mekong Delta—Along a muddy and windswept beach in a remote seaside village in the south-western province of the Mekong Delta, a one-lane dirt road divides the green arable land on one side and a beach-front on the other. It seems like any other road, but for villagers here, this is simply a much-needed lifeline, a buffer that prevents the rising seawater from swamping their homes.

Those who live behind the dyke, built by the Vietnamese government, have seen their rice fields and houses rescued from saltwater intrusion. Not so fortunate, are the families whose houses and lands are sandwiched between the wall and the sea.

Last year, Vietnam was elected to be a member of the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) for the term of 2014-2016. On February 25, 2013, Mr. Pham Binh Minh, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Vietnam, delivered a statement that was very impressive to the listeners who do not know about the human rights violations in Vietnam.

Mr. Pham Binh Minh said that "Viet Nam was a party to most human rights international treaties". It is true that Vietnam signed most of the human rights international treaties, even more than the United States, but Vietnamese government does not even allow the people in Vietnam to enjoy the fundamental freedom, such as: Freedom of Press or Freedom of Association.

AMRITSAR, India (Reuters) - David Cameron on Wednesday became the first serving British prime minister to voice regret about one of the bloodiest episodes in colonial India, a massacre of unarmed civilians in the city of Amritsar in 1919.

The killings, known in India as the Jallianwala Bagh massacre, were described by Mahatma Gandhi, the father of the Indian independence movement, as having shaken the foundations of the British Empire. A group of soldiers opened fire on an unarmed crowd without warning in the northern Indian city after a period of unrest, killing hundreds in cold blood.

MAPLE, ONTARIO — Andrew P. W. Bennett, Canada’s first ambassador of religious freedom, is a Christian academic studying toward a theology degree in Ottawa, an expert on Scottish devolution, and a government policy analyst with experience in the Privy Council, Export Development Canada and Natural Resources Canada.

With four staff and a $5-million annual budget, his new role is to promote freedom of religion, belief and conscience around the world by ensuring it is reflected in Canada’s foreign policy.